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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27852758">Real People</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sayarling/pseuds/Sayarling'>Sayarling</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Family, Hurt/Comfort, I just want them to be happy, Kids, Parenthood, Post-Promised Day, Pregnancy, Romance, Royai-centric, Secret Marriage, Sexual Content, Team Mustang mess around, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, tw: miscarriage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:28:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,631</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27852758</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sayarling/pseuds/Sayarling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Slices of Roy and Riza's life together after the Promised Day.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Edward Elric/Winry Rockbell, Mei Chan | May Chang/Alphonse Elric, Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>139</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Real People</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I wrote this for me but ya'll can read it if you want.</p>
<p>TW for mentions of a miscarriage and later, pregnancy struggles involving some bleeding. Also, while I didn't include the underage tag, there are references to teenage sexual relationships.</p>
<p>So, if you're looking for 9,000+ words of sweet, savory self-indulgence, you've come to the right place. While Ms. Arakawa's comments point at a different reality, I just love the idea of Roy and Riza as parents.</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Spring 1915</strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Promised Day has come and gone, and they’re alive.</p>
<p>He’s wrapped around her in her hospital bed, the room dark and cool and blessedly empty. The day’s bustle has faded to his favorite time, a time where it’s simply the two of them. By the rise and fall of her body pressed against him he can tell she’s not asleep, just idle - like him. She’s so warm. He presses his nose into her hair and breathes her in. She smells of ivory soap and gunpowder. He wonders if the scent of battle isn’t what clings to her anymore; he wonders if it’s her very essence now. </p>
<p>The night nurses don’t have it in them to scold him for slipping into her bed. He feels their sympathetic eyes on his back as they peek into the room during their overnight rounds and for once doesn’t feel frustrated by the pity, but relieved. Relieved that it means he can maintain their closeness without reprimand. A stark contrast to the wrath of the law that looms over them outside the hospital walls. He breaks their embrace if the staff needs to change their bandages or administer medication but makes no other concessions. He keeps thinking of the ache in his chest, the punch-gut sensation, the air syphoned from his chest, when he thought he was losing her. She’d nearly succumbed. He saw the life slipping from her eyes.</p>
<p>He doesn’t need to tell her why he’s clinging to her now. She knows. She knows, in the same way he knows why when she rolls over to face him and drinks him in with her amulet eyes, that she runs her fingers down his face. Traces his eyebrows. Kisses his eyelids.</p>
<p>They’re alone together and he calls her Riza. He revives her lie to Envy and gives it truth. They’ve been together long enough - he knows this. He thinks she’s beautiful, and doesn’t realize until she beams at him, her tired eyes crinkling, that he’s said it aloud. There in their hospital room in the dark, he tells her that he’s hers. He asks her to marry him, and she says yes.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>Summer 1915</strong>
</p>
<p>They wear their wedding bands on silver chains under their clothes.</p>
<p>No one is the wiser when they arrive together Monday morning after inconspicuously having spent the weekend moving into their new apartment uptown. He’s adopted a new routine of actually showing up early for weeks now, so his presence in the office at the same time as his wife doesn’t particularly strike their team as odd anymore. </p>
<p>He always knows he’s wearing his ring around his neck. He can feel it, and he knows she can feel it too. He catches her pressing a hand to her sternum where he knows it sits under her black compression top. He knows that spot intimately. When they undress each other he kisses her there first.</p>
<p>She is just as steadfast and stern as she always was with him, if not moreso, and that in itself has the team quietly suspicious. They knew what happened in the fifth laboratory, and heard stories of their former Colonel’s agony while she bled out in front of him. Saw them in action together while they fought for their lives, for Amestris. Exchanged glances in the hospital when they found out they’d requested to be treated in the same room.</p>
<p>“If they’re not together now, they never will be,” Havoc remarked to his comrades at lunch one day. “So I’m asking her out.”</p>
<p>She turns him down after he pulls her aside outside the office. Roy smirks as he watches the exchange in his rearview mirror but doesn’t bring it up. When they get home and he kills the ignition, she grabs him by the lapels before he can get out of the car and kisses him.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>Fall 1916</strong>
</p>
<p>They share coffee together on the balcony. On Saturday mornings, he brings the paper inside after taking Hayate on an early walk. Two mugs always sit steaming on the little round table when he returns. </p>
<p>This Saturday, when she joins him on the balcony, she plunks something soft down in front of him while he unfurls his paper. He pauses, peeks over the paper’s edge, and she watches him watch her. His eyes trail from the tag of her peppermint tea - not coffee? - and drift to the pair of teeny, tiny knit socks on the tabletop. He blinks several times before he can focus fully on her. Her smile, equally elated and nervous, confirms the pieces he's putting together in his mind.</p>
<p>“We’re having a baby,” he muses, turning the socks over in his palm. His eyes are wide in wonder, in disbelief. She is still smiling softly at him like she harbors a sweet secret. She nods, pressing her hand to her still flat stomach. </p>
<p>“Are you happy?” she asks, reaching for his hand. He laces their fingers and brings them to his lips, pressing hard. </p>
<p>“I am, love,” he says. “I’m happy.” </p>
<p>And their hearts are full. </p>
<hr/>
<p>Three months later, they are back at that hospital. She’d begun bleeding, and they know. They don’t need their gentle and kind medical staff with their sympathetic grimaces to know they’re losing their baby. Their doctor confirms their fears anyway, folds his hand solemnly in front of his body, eyes bowed. Clinical and sterile, the opposite of their doting nurses. Roy doesn’t know which he’d prefer. They say they’re sorry. Everyone is sorry.</p>
<p>Roy holds her hand on their agonizing drive home and tells her too, that he’s sorry. His words point to more than just their most recent loss. He thinks of Ishval and wonders if it is penance. He pictures her burying a child. He pictures her dead eyes back then, dead like his.</p>
<p>She doesn’t respond. She is staring at nothing in the distance, unblinking. He only knows she’s heard him by the way her grip tightens, his fingers going numb. </p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>Winter 1918</strong>
</p>
<p>The Elrics are in town and Riza invites them to dinner. Their townhouse is full of life in a split second.</p>
<p>Roy takes the Fullmetal brat and his brother to the balcony and they look out over the twinkling lights of the urbania below. Fullmetal puffs on a cigar while remarking how the city is a toilet. Roy taps his cigar in the ashtray on the little patio table. Fullmetal’s brother chides in his affectionate way.</p>
<p>Their partners are talking in the kitchen, and Roy can hear Riza’s tinkling laughter spilling out. It raises the hair on the back of his neck like always. The visit from their friends has her in good spirits, even though Roy sulked at first at the idea of guests. But they both know his mood is superficial. He can’t deny her anything. And dammit it if he doesn’t miss Fullmetal and his brood.</p>
<p>Roy feels a tug on his pants. Ed’s oldest, Abel, is all ocean eyes with a halo of white blonde hair. He’s no more than two and toddles after Black Hayate with a determined scowl and a thumb in his mouth. He regards Roy with a mix of suspicion and abject curiosity, fisting the fabric of his trousers to keep steady. Roy ruffles his hair and feels an unfamiliar twist of something like pain, or maybe longing. It’s hollow and uncomfortable. </p>
<p>Abel’s interest doesn’t stick for long - not with Uncle Al there. Fullmetal rolls his eyes and makes a crack about being chopped liver to his own kid, who squeals “Unca, no!” when Al tickles him and throws him up over his shoulder. Ed jiggles Abel’s chunky leg and tells Al to be careful.</p>
<p>Roy swallows thickly and glances over his shoulder hoping to meet Riza’s eye, desperate for the comfort she can give him with just a glance. Instead, he finds her back facing him as she stands in the kitchen chatting amiably with Winry and Mei. She holds Ed and Winry’s 3-month-old daughter, Nina, on her hip with a natural air as if she’d been doing it for ages. And she should have. If their baby had lived, it would have been about the same age.</p>
<p>Riza sways back and forth on her feet with the baby hooked around around her. She strokes Nina’s downy hair and rubs her back. The baby has her squishy cheeks nestled on Riza’s shoulder, but her eyes are locked on Roy across the room. He has to admit, despite Fullmetal contributing half the genes, the kid is cute.</p>
<p>“Oh, someone’s sleepy,” Ed remarks. He smiles toothily and waves with one finger. “Hi, princess!”</p>
<p>Nina gurgles and kicks her little feet at the sound of Ed’s voice. Riza turns to them with an incandescent smile on her face while Mei and Winry giggle about how Nina is just <em> such </em> a daddy’s girl. She meets Roy’s eye and while her smile doesn’t fade, the wistfulness returns to her countenance. Roy returns a sad smile. He knows. So does she.</p>
<p>That night after their guests have left and the house is dark, he joins her on the balcony and wraps his arms around her from behind. The kitchen still smells of beef wellington and the whole house is warm from laughter. The gramophone croons lazily from the other room.</p>
<p>“Fullmetal asked if we were roommates,” he says dryly, which makes her laugh.</p>
<p>“Winry will explain it to him,” she says. “She asked me about the ring.”</p>
<p>“And?"</p>
<p>“She understands the discretion.”</p>
<p>She hums a familiar song playing on the gramophone. Roy twists her around and she rests her head against his chest while they sway to the music. His arms wrap around her waist.</p>
<p>“When I saw you with Nina, I couldn’t stop thinking about…” His throat bobs. If he keeps talking he knows he’ll cry. </p>
<p>But his alternative isn’t much better: some cruel part of his brain keeps imagining Riza looking over her shoulder at him in the kitchen with that brilliant smile on her face, but instead of Fullmetal’s spawn in her arms, she holds a babe with messy black hair and russet eyes who reaches her arms out to him at the sound of his voice. Maybe people would remark that she's a daddy’s girl too. Maybe he'd have a sweet nickname for her too. </p>
<p>Riza’s chin trembles against his chest and her hand slides up to caress his jaw.</p>
<p>“Me too,” she whispers. His cheeks and shirt feel damp. “I really wanted her.”</p>
<p>They sway until the rain subsides.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>Summer 1920</strong>
</p>
<p>The Fuhrer’s press conference is packed with far too many people. They stand on opposite sides of the room from one another so that Riza can be closer to the Fuhrer’s security detail and Roy with the other officers.</p>
<p>Change is afoot, says the Fuhrer. Roy knows of most of it. Good things. Overhauls on infrastructure and education. Rebuilding. Stimulus. Jobs. Things are looking up, and the Fuhrer is excited for his country - even if the country seems lackluster in response. The leadership has critics as it always does. Roy figures the best a politician can hope for is to be ignored.</p>
<p>He’s busy people watching until he feels Riza’s eyes on him. Her gaze has a particularly heavy sensation and he recognizes it immediately, locking on her like a missle. Her eyes are blown wide as she surreptitiously glances from him to the Fuhrer and back. Some of the other officers have started whispering and the journalists are raising their hands more emphatically now than ever.</p>
<p>“Sir, does the abolishment of anti-fraternization laws contain fail-safes to prevent partners from exercising any personal bias?” one journalist asks. </p>
<p>Roy can’t help but sputter. He’s sure he looks crazy, but he can’t find it in himself to see anything outside of Riza. She is composed as usual but she glows like the sun, and he can tell her shoulders are trembling as she fights to hold in her elation. The press conference carries on for twenty more unbearable minutes, but as soon as it breaks and the area is secure she is by his side.</p>
<p>“I can’t believe it,” she repeats over and over again. She stands next to him with her arms folded behind her back. She’s so close to him their shoulders are nearly brushing. It’s a subtle break in her professional boundary with him. His heart stutters thinking about what she’s conveying to those around her without saying a word.</p>
<p>“Can’t you?” he asks with a cheeky smirk. Fuhrer Grumann is approaching with a shit-eating grin on his face. “I for one find it quite interesting that it happened today, of all days.” He can feel her gasp rather than hear it.</p>
<p>“Brigadier General. Captain,” the Fuhrer greets. His voice has a teasing lilt to it. They salute him. “Quite the day, eh?”</p>
<p>“Yes sir,” Roy agrees. “You’ve surely made many people in uniform very happy.”</p>
<p>“Well, you know me,” the Fuhrer shrugs. “I’m a romantic at heart. And it’s all so silly, to keep people from each other that way. Say, speaking of which…” his chestnut eyes flash over his half-moon glasses. “You wouldn’t happen to be seeing anyone, would you, Brigadier General? I have the strangest feeling you would hit it off with my granddaughter.”</p>
<p>In an uncharacteristic move, Riza steps forward and embraces the Fuhrer. “Thank you, grandfather,” she whispers. He squeezes her tight and kisses her hair. </p>
<p>“Happy anniversary, my dear.”</p>
<p>They leave their rings on the chains. It was never about the publicity anyway.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>Winter 1920</strong>
</p>
<p>Mei Chang is having a baby in Resembool.</p>
<p>They’d been in town anyway for annual inspections with Al, but Roy hisses to Riza on the way to the Rockbell house that all of this was a setup. She shushes him and leaves him with Ed and the children. Pinako and Winry have asked for her.</p>
<p>“Here, watch Daddy,” Ed says to Abel and Nina. They sit in their playroom staring at their father with wide, inquisitive eyes as he draws a transmutation circle in crayon on the back of Nina’s coloring book. He distracts them with a sloppily executed “hey, what’s that over there!?” and swiftly drops a pair of paper planes in the symbol’s orbit. He hands one to each of them, who ooh and gurgle at their new toys.</p>
<p>“That’s a cheap trick,” Roy deadpans, hovering in the doorway. </p>
<p>“They don’t know that yet,” Ed says as he stops Nina from shoving the paper into her mouth. She whines, and Ed regards her with baby talk. “Don’t listen to Uncle Bastard, honey, he doesn’t mean it.” </p>
<p>“Unca Bastard!” Abel squeaks as he races around the room with his new toy.</p>
<p>An inhuman wail comes from upstairs. Roy looks up while the Elrics carry on as if this is nothing new. Abel pads over to Roy and shoves the plane up at him; he steps further into the room and figures he must be a sight - a decorated Brigadier General in full uniform, zooming paper planes with a toddler.</p>
<p>“Say, Mustang,” he says. “You and the Captain ever think about...you know, a couple rugrats? She’d be a great mom.”</p>
<p>Roy rolls his eyes at the slight of his exclusion. “You know, Fullmetal, if this conversation had been happening a few years ago I’d scold you for putting your nose into adult business.” He pauses, choosing to ignore the presumptuousness of asking at all, finding himself comfortable answering. “But, yes. We’ve thought about it.”</p>
<p>“Hmm,” says Ed as he sweeps Nina into his arms. He resituates her and tosses her a bit too high in the air for Roy’s comfort. The little girl giggles like a banshee and squeals a thrilled “Papa!” </p>
<p>Immediately Abel is on his feet crying, “Me now! Me now!”</p>
<p>“It’s just…” Roy trails off and rubs his neck. He doesn’t think Riza would mind, but it’s a hard topic to broach. “It’s...work, you know.” He withers internally, feeling hollow at the omission now. “Things are busier than ever.”</p>
<p>“When Winry found out she was pregnant with Abel, I was in Xing with Al. She went through the first half of her pregnancy alone,” Ed says. “And I missed Nina’s birth completely.”</p>
<p>“See, that’s what I <em> don’t </em> want,” Roy says. </p>
<p>“Yeah, well, I didn’t either! But things happen. What I’m trying to say is, both are possible. It’s just...work. Compromise. Balance. All that shit.”</p>
<p>“Shit!” Abel parrots. Quieter, Nina whispers “Shih.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, that’s what I said!”</p>
<p>“Oh, God, Fullmetal,” Roy rubs his face. “Your children will grow up to be heathens.”</p>
<p>“See, it’s instincts like that that tell me you’d be an okay dad.”</p>
<p>“That’s not even an instinct. It’s common sense not to swear in front of children.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah. They'll never remember. Anyway, work is crazy. Big deal.”</p>
<p>Roy sighs. “Well, that’s not everything,” he says softly. He realizes now that he’s barely talked about this outside of Riza and Aunt Chris. It still feels raw, but he’s twitching with anticipation, not realizing til now just how much he wants to say it out loud. Feels like he needs to. “We were pregnant about four years ago and we...well. Clearly.”</p>
<p>Ed takes this in as thoughtfully as possible with two children climbing on him. To his credit, his reaction is appropriately sympathetic. </p>
<p>“I’m scared,” Roy admits. “Parenthood is daunting. But...and I mean this as a compliment...if you can do it, I know anyone can.” </p>
<p>He sighs again. Ed doesn’t look completely affonted. </p>
<p>“She was almost unreachable after the miscarriage. There were days I wasn’t sure she’d ever be the same...it was awful. Even now, being around kids the same age our baby would be is hard. I...I just don’t want her - us - to go through that again.” He shrugs. “We do talk about it sometimes, but...I don't know. We don't know. I’m worried.”</p>
<p>“Boss, that’s heavy,” Ed says. “I can’t even imagine. Do you mind my asking…?”</p>
<p>“She would have been about Nina’s age,” Roy replies quietly. He gazes at the littlest Elric sadly. </p>
<p>“How’d you figure it was a girl?”</p>
<p>Roy blinks. “Oh. Well. I don’t know, I guess we always thought it’d be a girl. No reason, just a feeling.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know what to say.”</p>
<p>“It’s alright.” He folds his arms. “So, we’re not sure. In response to your question.”</p>
<p>“Wait a minute. That happened four years ago? How long have you two been together?”</p>
<p>At this, Roy chuckles. “A long time, Fullmetal.” He tells him their story. </p>
<hr/>
<p>Hours later, Riza comes downstairs to fetch supplies at Pinako’s behest. She finds Roy asleep on the couch with Abel tucked into the crook of his arm and Nina snoozing on his chest. She pulls a quilt over them, kisses them each on the forehead and ascends the stairs.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Al holds a tiny black-haired baby girl in his arms. </p>
<p>“Mei’s family didn’t know she was pregnant,” he confesses to Riza. “I feel so guilty. We’ve been traveling so much, it just...happened. And we didn’t have time to go back to Xing. It’s not exactly the kind of news you share in a letter.”</p>
<p>“You must be so worried,” Riza soothes. She sits on the edge of Mei’s bed and dabs at her sweaty skin with a cool cloth while she sleeps.</p>
<p>“I am,” Al admits. “Her family is traditional. A courtship, a big wedding, the whole thing. I’m scared they’ll disown her.”</p>
<p>“She has you, at least.”</p>
<p>“That's true.” Al smiles at that. “But it feels like I’ve taken something from her. I worry I’ve ruined her life. She’s barely eighteen.”</p>
<p>Riza blinks and drops the cloth in surprise. “Oh.” She meets Winry’s eye across the room, who has her face drawn into an uncharacteristically blank expression.</p>
<p>“I know. It’s bad,” Al acquiesces quietly. He curls his daughter closer to his chest but looks pained. “But I’m going to make things right. I love her. I’m going to marry her, and I’ll take care of her. Suyin, too.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Pull over,” Riza says suddenly. She and Roy are driving back from Resembool and they’ve barely been on the road for an hour. Black and white farmland stretches as far as the eye can see, and Roy wonders if there’s anything more depressing than the countryside in winter.</p>
<p>“Is everything okay?” Roy asks as he guides the car off the road. Riza’s hand squeezes his arm. </p>
<p>“Yes,” she says, though urgency colors her tone. “Further, over here.” He parks behind a thicket of trees.</p>
<p>“Riza, what is going on--”</p>
<p>In a split second, she has straddled him and has whipped her sweater over her head.</p>
<p>“I want you,” is all she says as she deftly unbuttons his pants. “Right now.”</p>
<p>“Uhhh,” he utters, transfixed by his wife’s tenacity. He groans as she hikes her skirt up and bears down on him.</p>
<p>“Oh, okay. Alright, so we’re doing this.”</p>
<p>“Yes,” she hisses, reaching under her skirt to shove her panties to the side. “Right here. Now.” She crushes a bruising kiss to his mouth and they shiver in the cold car interior. She works on the buttons of his shirt while he presses kisses to her sternum.</p>
<p>“Riza,” he chokes as she reaches into his pants. She busies herself in pumping him until he’s hard and hot in her hand. “What’s gotten into you?”</p>
<p>“I want you,” she repeats. “We didn’t have sex once while we were in Resembool.”</p>
<p>“I will not make love to you in that house on principle.” He feels he doesn’t have to remind her of their final night, lying in bed and hearing Ed and Winry’s moans through the thin walls. He’d covered her ears.</p>
<p>“Well, maybe the house is lucky,” she argues, lining him up with her entrance. </p>
<p>“What do you mean?”</p>
<p>“All--those--<em> ah </em>--babies,” Riza strains as she eases him hilt-deep inside her. She sinks her fingertips into his shoulders as she begins to roll her hips the way she knows he likes. Roy drops his head back on the seat and groans. </p>
<p>“God, you’re perfect,” he whispers as he clasps his hands onto her hips, pressing her down harder. Suddenly, her words dawn on him. “Wait. Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”</p>
<p>“I want to try,” Riza answers, riding him harder. “I want a baby--<em> oh-- </em>” Her words are drowned by a sudden moan and she picks up the pace as he bucks up into her. The car is rocking with them.</p>
<p>“I’ll give you a baby,” Roy gasps into her chest. “The prettiest babies you’ve ever seen. God, Riza. Anything you want.”</p>
<p>She slams a hand against a steamed window when she comes, throwing her head back and wailing his name as he helps her ride out the crashing wave. He is wrapped around her, thrusting hard and quick, when he finishes minutes later.</p>
<p>“We’re going to be having lots and lots of sex, Brigadier General,” she murmurs against his lips. “Hope you can handle that.” He kisses her slowly, savoring the words as they spill into his mouth. </p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>Spring 1922</strong>
</p>
<p>She’s reading on the balcony when he comes home. He’s been away in the North for the last three weeks and he’s missed her. </p>
<p>She turns over her shoulder and smiles that smile at him as he approaches, setting her book to the side as he bends down to kiss her. </p>
<p>“How are you?” he asks, retracting just a hair’s breadth away. She murmurs “Good” as she slides a hand to the back of his neck and guides him back to her lips, sighing contentedly. </p>
<p>“And, how are <em> you </em>?” he asks as he breaks their kiss, looking pointedly down at her stomach. </p>
<p>They haven’t officially disclosed their pregnancy, but General Armstrong knows. She all but forced it out of him when Riza wasn’t by his side during his arrival. The General was unreadable as usual, but he detected a hint of sympathy - whether it was for Riza’s condition overall or that Roy had done this to her, he couldn’t tell. </p>
<p>“See for yourself,” Riza says as she stands. Her bump has popped since he’s left, and she strikes a pose while she turns her profile out to show off the curve, with one hand resting on her hip and the other cradling a swell that was significantly less prominent three weeks ago. She is proud of it, smirking in a way that makes him guffaw that's half a sob. Not many people are privy to the silly side of his wife, the feminine and giggly side she reveals to few. He can’t contain himself and falls to his knees in front of her, kissing her stomach. </p>
<p>“When did you get here?” he asks her belly.</p>
<p>“The book I’m reading says it’s common around this time,” she explains. “I’m going to have to size up in the uniform again.”</p>
<p>“Hmm,” Roy muses, placing his chin on her belly and looking up at her. “Hi.”</p>
<p>“Hi.” She brushes his cheek with her knuckles. “How’d everything go up North?”</p>
<p>He sighs and presses his forehead against her.</p>
<p>“So, business as usual with the General?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” he mutters. Suddenly, a flutter tickles his forehead and he gasps. “Oh! Was that a kick?”</p>
<p>“What?” Riza asks, rubbing her belly where Roy’s forehead had rested. “No, it can’t be.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” Roy says reverently, pressing his hands to the sides of her belly. “Baby Mustang, if you can hear me…”</p>
<p>As if in response, Riza grunts as a slightly sharper jab lands against Roy’s hand. They stare at each other. </p>
<p>“That was--that was a kick! Riza!”</p>
<p>“Oh, that was my bladder!”</p>
<p>She scampers to the powder room while he sits on the floor in a daze, smiling like a madman. He can’t even pick himself up off the floor. He’s still smiling when she returns and she tutts at him while she grips his arm and hauls him up with surprising strength. </p>
<p>“I missed you,” she says. He pulls her into his arms and buries his head in her hair. He can feel her bump pressing into his stomach.</p>
<p>“Mm,” he hums against her temple. “I missed you too.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>He’s not at all surprised at how beautiful she is while pregnant. Her radiance is warm and soft but just as strong and formidable as ever. He marvels at her while she undresses for bed, unaware of his staring. The moonlight spills through the slats in the blinds and highlights every swell and curve. It catches in her hair like glitter. It pours from her lips when she says his name, amused at his staring. She’s a goddess, he notes, awestruck yet again. He feels the need to kneel at her feet in worship, offering himself as sacrifice. She cradles his face so tenderly, and reverence drips from his tongue. He asks what he’s done to deserve this woman’s love, a question he’s asked himself over and over again with no answer. </p>
<p>When she kisses him, he is home. He feels sated, safe with her fingers carding gently through his hair. He’s willingly hers, body and soul, and when he breathes the words into her, she smiles.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>Summer 1922</strong>
</p>
<p>It occurred to them that they hadn’t told anyone. </p>
<p>It’s the elephant in the room at the office, but the team is either too confused or too nervous to bring it up. She doesn’t particularly notice, or she doesn’t particularly care, so wrapped up in her work like usual, but <em> he </em> notices. And it’s amusing at first. It’s like these men have never seen a pregnant woman before, and maybe they haven’t. Especially not at work, in such close proximity, where motherhood is a bit of a novelty. They stare out of the corners of their eyes and share glances at one another when she walks through the door, when she’s stretching on her tiptoes to reach something high on a shelf, when she abruptly leaves the room to rush to the lavatory. It’s like they’ve realized their Captain is indeed a <em> woman </em>in the military.</p>
<p>It’s the thing that no one will talk about but that everyone is surely <em> talking </em> about. He considers not getting involved. Their discomfort is a little funny, and the question marks above their heads are even funnier. But at some point, they have to tell the team. </p>
<p>“They probably don’t know it’s yours,” Riza comments to him while they drive home from work. “Remember, they don’t know we’re married either.”</p>
<p>“So they just think you’ve been knocked up by some chump?”</p>
<p>“Perhaps.”</p>
<p>“They’re unobservant.”</p>
<p>“We’ve been careful.”</p>
<p>She’s right. Secrecy is second nature to them now, though not by design. They treat each other no differently at the office, and as far as everyone knows, they arrive early and leave late separately. They’re only together in public in a professional setting and their dating life has consisted of staycations in the apartment and weekends far, far away from East City, even now that their relationship is within their rights. They still wear their rings under their clothes, and now it feels more intimate than wearing them on their fingers.</p>
<p>“We should tell them,” Riza decides. “Though, I’m sure they assume it’s you. But they deserve to know.”</p>
<p>“They do.” Even if Roy does like it when they squirm.</p>
<p>So they do. The next day, Roy calls for attention and Riza joins him in front of the desk clump. The big reveal is met with confusion rather than a lightbulb moment they thought it would be. </p>
<p>“Wait,” Breda says, holding his hands out in front of his body in a pushaway motion. “So you’re telling me you’ve been together for <em> how </em> long?”</p>
<p>They share a knowing glance and Riza ducks her head with a pretty blush pinking her cheeks. </p>
<p>“We’ve been married for seven years,” says Roy. But he’s loved her for much longer. That sentiment is unspoken, but she hears it in between syllables and laces her fingers with his. </p>
<p>“The anti-frat laws were canned ages ago,” Havoc says. “And you’re just telling us now? What gives?”</p>
<p>“It wasn’t on purpose,” Riza said. “We just got used to it being our secret. But with the baby and all…”</p>
<p>“<em>Baby?!” </em>the four men cry at once. A hush falls over the room as they stare at one another. </p>
<p>“You...didn’t know I was pregnant?” Riza asks, disbelief flooding her. </p>
<p>Breda laughs a little awkwardly and rubs the back of his head. “Well...I mean...it’s awfully rude to assume, isn’t it? So, we kind of thought...well, we thought you’d just gained weight. A lot of it. Really fast.” He blushes as he finishes, feeling foolish. “Every time we see you, you’re eating.”It’s not untrue, and the muffin in her hands is proof of it. All the same, Roy groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. “You’re all idiots. You didn’t notice the vomiting? The sensitivity? The noises?” Riza shoots him a glare.</p>
<p>“In his defense,” Fuery says placatingly. “The uniforms don’t show much shape. <em> You </em> don’t show, sir.”</p>
<p>Riza rubs her belly thoughtfully over her uniform, and Roy peeks at her with renewed curiosity. Now that he’s seeing it through their eyes, he kind of agrees on the physical aspect. She’s obviously different, but their blues are so shapeless and bulky, even more so in her sized-up number, no one would be the wiser to the bump itself just yet unless she took off her uniform jacket. Still, he can’t believe they were able to ignore everything else. To him, her glow was unmistakable. Maybe it was because he was so in tune with her that he noticed every little nuance of her behaviour, or that it was <em> his </em> baby growing inside her, but he pitied his team’s future partners nonetheless.</p>
<p>“But it <em> is </em> rude to assume,” Havoc agrees. “I didn’t want to get slapped. I’ve been slapped before.” </p>
<p>This, Roy realizes with a bark of laughter afterwards, is perhaps the most believable part of their conversation.</p>
<p>“Well,” he acquiesces. “That was painful. But now you know. We’re married. We’re pregnant. Any questions? No? Get back to work.”</p>
<p>It’s like a spell is broken, and the awkward cloud over the team has cleared. The men are back to joking and goofing off, doting on her just a little bit, and Riza is back to reprimanding, although it’s half-hearted and full of warmth. </p>
<hr/>
<p>“We should talk about names,” Riza mentions off-handedly while she flips a page in her book. She has one arm draped across Black Hayate while he snores, his greying head resting on her swollen belly.</p>
<p>“Baby Mustang,” Roy replies automatically from the kitchen. The dishwater sloshes under his hands.</p>
<p>“I was thinking Maes,” she says. He’s silent from the kitchen. At first she thinks he hasn’t heard her, until he repeats the name in a small voice.</p>
<p>“Good for a boy or a girl, you know? Maes Mustang.” She likes the sound of it on her tongue. </p>
<p>Roy resumes washing the dishes, but he’s noticeably sniffling. Finally, he says in a choked voice, “That sounds nice.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>Summer 1922</strong>
</p>
<p>Roy returns from a meeting one day to find Riza sitting ramrod straight in the chair in his inner office. She flinches as he enters and she whispers “shut the door” in a shaky voice. He’s instantly on edge when he approaches her. </p>
<p>“What’s wrong?” he asks. </p>
<p>Riza is close to tears and is hugging herself tightly. “I need you to take me home,” she chokes, staring at him with desperate eyes. He slips off his desk and kneels in front of her. </p>
<p>“What’s wrong, Riza?” he asks again. “Is it the baby? Tell me.”</p>
<p>She shakes her head emphatically. “No, no. Well, a little,” she sniffs. “It’s just...I need sex.”</p>
<p>The nervous chatter in Roy’s head halts as he stares at his wife. She’s blushing an alarmingly dark shade of puce, and she’s trembling. </p>
<p>“You. Want me to take you home. So we can have sex?”</p>
<p>He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t intrigued.</p>
<p>“Oh, don’t make it sound so trivial,” she hisses, and her blush creeps down her neck. “It’s unbearable. I’ve been aroused all day and it <em> hurts </em>.” Her voice drops to a conspiratorial whisper. “If we can’t leave, I’ll--I’ll have to do something I swore I’d never do.”</p>
<p>Roy gasps and beams. “Office sex. Yes, finally. Let me see...”</p>
<p>“Roy!” Riza cries, gripping onto his forearm as he moves to open the door. Her eyes are pleading, but he sees her resolve cracking as she peeks out into the main office. They’re alone. </p>
<p>“You said you needed me now,” Roy reiterates, his voice so low and husky he can see her visibly shiver. “I can give you that. Right here.”</p>
<p>Riza squeezes her eyes shut and gulps, nodding as if she’s thinking it over. Then, her eyes snap open, bright and determined, and she snaps the fasteners on her uniform jacket. </p>
<p>“You’re incorrigible,” she hisses, shrugging one shoulder free. “So unprofessional.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Roy considers himself lucky to be acquainted with Riza’s sensuality. Their mutual desire could be downright explosive at times, and sometimes he thought that even his alchemy couldn’t hold a spark to their heat. Sex with Riza was an otherworldly and frequent experience before the pregnancy; passionate and desperate and tender all at once, a culmination of emotion now that they were finally together after years of fleeting encounters.</p>
<p>They gave themselves to each other for the first time in the meadow behind her father’s house, the day before he left for the military. Then, after her father died and he'd learned the truth of Berthold’s research, he couldn’t help himself as he trailed hot kisses down her spine while he studied and passion followed soon after. He sought her out in Ishval and while she turned him down harshly the first time, she tracked him down several nights later, seething and broken. They'd fought hard and fucked harder.</p>
<p>After the war, their liaisons were scattered and hurried, allowed only by their mutual frustration and desperation for a release, a frenzied, needy tangle of limbs and clothes. They didn’t have time to slow down, and fucked quickly in tucked away places. The only time he allowed himself to know her patiently was after he’d nearly been gutted by Lust in the third laboratory, and Riza’s wild shrieks and emptied bullet rounds lead him back to what would have surely rotted him from the inside out if he’d just been a minute later. </p>
<p>Seeing her crumpled on the ground and ready to follow him into the afterlife, into what was surely hell, broke his resolve. As soon as he regained his strength he confronted her at her apartment and told her everything. That he loved her beyond words, wanted her so badly it hurt. He made love to her slowly that night, allowing his selfishness to take hold and relish every bared inch of her. Every kiss was sanctuary, every touch a tether. It sustained him when Bradley took her away.</p>
<p>After they married, they took their time. They undressed fully, learned each other's bodies and spent quiet hours driving each other to the brink of ecstasy. They finally had the one thing they were never sure of before--time.</p>
<p>But this pregnancy...despite growing up surrounded by women, and privy to plenty of information helpful to this particular situation by extension, he had not expected her libido to be so intense and her body beyond sensitive. It never took long for wanton moans to spill from her mouth when he took her. Every cry, every wail, every breathy sob of his name, had him falling deeper and deeper into her. Even as her stomach grew and she had trouble riding him the way she liked, he found other ways to love her until she shattered.</p>
<p>And they thought his ego couldn’t get any bigger.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>Fall 1922</strong>
</p>
<p>Riza is seven months pregnant to the day. They're propped up on the pillows in bed; she leans back against his chest as he massages her shoulders, sore and tense from the newfound heaviness of her breasts. They hurt so much that Roy is banned from them, which makes him pout, so he busies himself in touching her everywhere else. </p>
<p>She’s been nesting for weeks, and is meticulously folding piles of tiny clothes that make a semicircle in front of her on the bed. Roy’s hands work their way down her back, and she moans as his thumbs knead in a particularly sensitive spot on her lower back, between the serpent heads on her tattoo. They skim her full hips and he hums triumphantly when she abandons her task to sink her weight fully against his chest. </p>
<p>His feather-soft touch dances across her belly, his palms warm and gentle as he caresses her. If he lets his mind wander, he finds himself spinning down the rabbit hole of disbelief, completely overwhelmed by the sheer realness of it all. Who would have thought they’d be able to have all of this? He hadn’t felt this optimistic about life since the day he left his apprenticeship for the military, a wistful goodbye on his lips but happiness in his heart as he stole one last glance at his master’s daughter, the one to whom he’d given his entire self and thought, <em> I’m going to marry this girl someday. </em></p>
<p>That girl, now a woman, gasps as her soldier trails those sweet touches low. She squirms and cooes against him as the gyration of fingers against her swollen clit take over her senses. She’s warm and sticky as he rubs her and dips down to her weeping center, but it feels different somehow. He pulls his hand back and he feels his heart nearly stop at the sight of them, coated in ruby red blood. </p>
<p>“Riza,” he murmurs. Her eyes drift open and she sits up abruptly, clutching his wrist to get a closer look. She turns back to him in a panic and clambers off the bed. </p>
<p>They dress quickly and it feels as if he blinked and they’re at the hospital. They're silent the entire ride, nervousness and fear settling in with a nauseous undertone. When she grasps his fingers, he brings her hand to her mouth and kisses it. Not again, he pleads. They can’t do this again<em> . </em> She doesn’t deserve this <em> again. </em></p>
<p>This time, their baby is fine, and they’re overwhelmed. Riza bursts into tears, sobbing so hard in sheer relief that it takes minutes for Roy and their doctor to calm her down. The weight of what could have been is so heavy, sitting upon her with such strength that she can barely keep herself upright. She is ordered to stick to bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. Their doctor warns them that she likely would deliver early, and that future pregnancies would be hard. </p>
<p>“One’s enough,” Riza says suddenly one morning, her legs propped up in bed while Roy dresses for work in the dark. “Don’t you think?”</p>
<p>“I think one is just perfect for us,” he says as he sits on the bed and ties his shoes. An unbidden thought creeps in that he hadn’t entertained in a long time. <em> There were supposed to be two. </em>He kisses her and leaves. </p>
<p>He thinks about it the entire drive to work and it makes for a melancholy mood in the office. They were supposed to have a four-year-old now, a bright little girl giddy over a new sibling who cuddled Black Hayate a little too tightly and was precocious and curious and thoughtful and sweet and theirs, theirs, theirs. </p>
<p>His somber mood lasts the entire day, even after he gets home late, and Riza is curled up on her side in a room just as dark as he’d left it. He pulls off his clothes and crawls into bed, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. She stirs enough to turn her face up towards him. He drops a kiss onto her waiting lips. </p>
<p>“I love you,” she mumbles sleepily and slips back into her dreams. He can tell by the tracks on her cheeks that she’d been crying, and he was sure she’d been plagued by the memory of their lost baby too. </p>
<hr/>
<p>Maes Christopher Mustang is a wonder.</p>
<p>He’s small and squishy and red and perfect and strong. He grips Roy’s thumb with a strength that feels unparalleled. Roy is captivated; he rocks him silently, swiping tufts of his little boy’s soft black hair with his thumb over and over again. He traces the shape of his tiny face, outlines the slope of his button nose.</p>
<p>Riza watches them from the bed, ashen and exhausted, but she can’t stop smiling. The room is quiet, save for the three of them. Maes cooes at his father, and she can see a chubby fist swinging and reaching from his swaddle. Roy whispers at him in return, quiet promises and whispers of unconditional, unfailing love. It’s like they’re in their own little world, and Riza is lucky enough to glimpse it. </p>
<p>"You've got mama's nose,” she hears him say, and he’s looking at her with so much open affection she feels her chest tighten. She holds her arms out as he approaches her, and he gently lowers Maes onto her chest, skin on skin. He draws her sheet up to cover them.</p>
<p>“And you,” she says. He slips into the sliver of space next to her and folds into her side, placing a protective palm on Maes’ back. The baby chirps and his limbs twitch like a starfish.</p>
<p>“I can’t believe you’re mine,” Riza whispers, her voice soft and trembling. Roy peers up at her and her eyes are closed, the tears sliding down her cheeks. </p>
<p>“Who?” Roy asks. She chuckles. </p>
<p>“Both of you,” she answers, and her eyes are burning when they flutter open. “Roy...we made a baby. Just think of it.”</p>
<p>His laugh is incredulous. After watching her carry and grow their child for all those months and then spending nearly 24 agonizing hours delivering him, it feels like cheating to claim anything but a participation trophy. </p>
<p>"Dear one, my contribution was rather meager in comparison, don’t you think?"</p>
<p>"Well," she chuckles. "All the same."</p>
<p>“It doesn’t feel real,” he says. He leans up and presses a gentle kiss to his son’s head. Then, he leans higher and kisses his wife, pressing his forehead to hers.</p>
<p>“You changed my life, you know,” he murmurs.</p>
<p>She smiles as she kisses him back. “You led with that when you proposed.”</p>
<p>“It’s true,” he says. “Thank you, Riza. You’ve given me everything. Everything.” He kisses her again.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>Summer 1924</strong>
</p>
<p>“We’re back,” Roy calls.</p>
<p>Riza rolls her stiff shoulders gently so not to disturb the infant nursing at her breast. She sinks back into the pillows and closes her eyes until she hears the bedroom door creak open. </p>
<p>“Hey.” Her husband's voice is like a soothing sip of water. “Pasta tonight?”</p>
<p>“Mm,” Riza agrees. </p>
<p>“How’s it going in here?” </p>
<p>“He’s nearly done, I hope,” she says with a sigh. Dark circles hug her eyes. “Did Maes like the pool?”</p>
<p>“Too much,” says Roy, and pushes the door open fully. He’s got Maes on his hip, who has stuffed his fingers in his mouth and mumbles “Mamamama” at the sight of Riza. </p>
<p>“Hi, baby,” she says, her face lighting up. It hadn’t been long, but she’d missed them both immensely.  </p>
<p>There was a new public pool in their neighborhood and Roy had taken Maes for the afternoon so Riza could rest. Their nine-month-old had proven to be a hungry tyrant, squalling for his mother every few hours since they’d brought him home. After Roy and Maes left the house, she'd put the baby down for his nap in the bassinet next to their bed and promptly passed out on top of the covers. She nearly wept when his famished cries woke her out of a dead sleep. Nursing Roman Mustang was exhausting, and he was enormous for the effort. </p>
<p>“Like a linebacker,” Roy had remarked once in awe as he juggled the baby in his arms not so long ago. He even did some squats for good measure.</p>
<p>Maes squirms in Roy’s arms and Riza opens her free arm in encouragement. He lowers their son to the ground, who toddles at warp speed toward the bed on pudgy legs. Roy laughs as Maes tries to climb the edge; the boy is whimpering in frustration, so he crosses the room to lift him into the open space, showering his face with kisses. </p>
<p>Riza makes a noise of contentment as Maes snuggles her close, one arm around each of her babies, stroking their backs. She can smell that distinct scent of chlorine and baby powder on Maes' skin, his down-soft hair sticking up in all directions. Roy leans forward to kiss her and then Roman, patting Maes’ diapered bottom, and slips out the bedroom door.</p>
<p>Roy sets to work on dinner and arranges two heaping plates of pasta decorated with sauce and one little plastic dish printed with puppies containing some kind of vegetable mash that Riza had made up in the fridge. He sets tea on the kettle for Riza and fixes a cup of coffee for himself. </p>
<p>He can hear murmurs coming from the bedroom. He leans back and from the crack in the door he can just make out Maes having an animated discussion with his mother about his day after she'd asked him if he'd had a fun day with daddy. He and Maes had a special, unbreakable bond from day one, but Riza is Maes' favorite person in the world. He adores her, and she him. He fiddles with his fingers as he describes in his day in a childish babble that is barely understandable. Riza listens with rapt attention, even as she sits up to burp Roman on her shoulder.</p>
<p>Eventually, they are able to sit down to eat together. After, Riza rocks Roman in the living room while Roy gives Maes his bath and gets him to bed. They switch when it’s time for a story, and Riza reads to Maes while Roy lies on the couch with Roman on his chest, who cooes and giggles at Roy’s silly faces. He’s starting to babble a little bit, and this was <em> finally </em> the week Roy got him to say “<em>Da!” </em> and he’s been riding that high ever since. </p>
<p>Though, realistically, the baby could have been trying to say <em> dog</em>. He convinces himself it’s daddy. Like hell this child's first words will also come courtesy of their geriatric pet.</p>
<p>“I can’t get him to do that,” Riza’s voice hums from the corner. She’s standing by the living room threshold with her arms crossed over her chest, leaning against the wall with a serene look on her face. Roy wonders how long she’s been standing there. </p>
<p>“Do what?” he asks. </p>
<p>“Giggle. Laugh. Say mama,” she says with mock forlorn. “I think he just sees me as his personal cow.” She approaches and leans down to lift Roman from Roy’s chest, and on cue the baby just scowls at her. “See?”</p>
<p>“He was almost asleep,” Roy says, tweaking Roman's pajama-clad foot. “That’s why he’s upset.”</p>
<p>“Yes, and he’ll be upset in four hours when he’s hungry again.”</p>
<p>Roy sighs. “Who would have thought the second one would be so hard?”</p>
<p>She shrugs in resignation, bouncing him on her hip. Roman stares, unimpressed. “It’s not his fault.”They put Roman to bed, who’s fast asleep in his crib before they’re able to shut the door. With the day sufficiently spent, Roy pulls Riza onto the couch with him and they lay intertwined and utterly content. Roy is nearly asleep when he feels the sensation of Riza’s lips on his neck and instantly his eyes snap open. She’s straddling him on the couch and unbuttoning his shirt, dipping down to nip and lick at his newly exposed skin. </p>
<p>“Now, Mrs. Mustang,” Roy teases and she groans. She hates that nickname and grazes her teeth over his collarbone for good measure. “Don’t tell me you're making this a pattern?”</p>
<p>“Hmm,” she rumbles as her tongue flicks his nipple and he cringes in delight. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”</p>
<p>Roy sits up abruptly and swallows her in one of his intense kisses that makes her head spin. He slips his tongue into her mouth and she meets it eagerly, moaning against him and running her nails down his back. He pulls away with a loud pop and she follows his mouth. </p>
<p>“Roman is nine months old,” he says. “The same age Maes was when we…”</p>
<p>Riza cocks an eyebrow and dares him to finish. But that sly bastard. He just smirks at her and captures her lips again. They fall into one another like they always do.</p>
<p>She remembers that night, when they had gotten a sitter for Maes and gone for a proper night out with the team - the first in a long, long time. They drank too much and laughed and reveled with their friends. Roy couldn’t - or wouldn't - keep his hands off of her, the temptation too easy with liquid encouragement. He teased her all night: a roaming hand on her thigh at the table, a stray brush on her backside at the bar, a searing warmth on her neck as his trash talking at the billiards table quickly made a turn toward a sensual kind of distraction. </p>
<p>It was almost inevitable that they wouldn't make it home first. One minute they were bidding their friends a good night, and the next Roy had pulled her into the alley, hiked her skirt up and took her right there with her hands slapped against the brick. When the morning sickness hit a month or so later, their nervous, guilty giggles filled the bathroom as he held her hair back.</p>
<p>“Maes and Roman are enough,” Riza says between kisses. Truthfully, she was grateful for what they did have. Just a few years ago, she wasn’t confident that she’d ever be a mother - but life surprised her in the end, as it tended to. “Remember when it was just us two?”</p>
<p>“Barely,” Roy says. “You couldn’t get enough of me back then.”</p>
<p>“I still can’t. You’re so handsome.”</p>
<p>“Handsome? And what else?”</p>
<p>“Don’t push your luck,” she chides, and he’s peeling her clothes off on the couch. “Touch me, Roy.”</p>
<p>And he does, with gusto. He makes love to her there, as they had dozens of times before, and she comes with his name on her lips like always. </p>
<p>Over the years, the way she says his name has changed. They changed. But not their love; that, Roy's certain, has been constant.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>Summer 1926</strong>
</p>
<p>Roy and Riza spend their anniversary in Resembool. </p>
<p>The children play in the yard, all giggles and squealing as they congregate around Abel, a loud-mouthed 10-year-old with just as much natural pomp and charisma as his father but with Winry’s unique brand of attitude. He’ll be a good Fuhrer someday, Roy decides.</p>
<p>They watch from the porch. Roy stands with an arm around Riza’s waist, and she’s turned into him, resting her head on his shoulder and a hand on his chest.</p>
<p>“Watch Nina,” Roy murmurs in her ear. Ed and Winry’s oldest girl is tenacious and fearless. Abel wags a finger in her face as he reprimands her, and she responds by slugging her brother as hard as she can. Maes stares on in wonder, and Roman in fear. Riza muffles a laugh in Roy’s shoulder. </p>
<p>“She’ll never be underestimated in her life,” she says, and Roy rumbles his agreement. ("I take that back. <em> She'll </em> be Fuhrer.")</p>
<p>A few feet away on the porch swing, Winry sits with her youngest daughter in her lap. Allison isn’t even a year old and clings to her mother, but observes everything around her with keen, careful interest. </p>
<p>“She’s a bruiser,” she says. Behind her, Ed is finishing the braids in Sara’s hair. She has stopped sniffling after running to her father in tears, insisting that Winry did them wrong. </p>
<p>“Wonder why,” Ed jokes, nudging Winry with his elbow. They smile knowingly at one another.</p>
<p>Al exits the house with Suyin, who’s just been patched up with a scraped knee. She grabs Sara’s hand and flies off the porch toward her cousins, blood and honorary.</p>
<p>“Prince Alphonse,” Roy greets warmly with a teasing glint in his eye. Al laughs awkwardly and ducks his head. </p>
<p>“Hey, General,” he says. He looks out into the yard and shields his eyes from the setting sun. </p>
<p>“Is Mei comfortable up there?” Winry asks, and Al nods.</p>
<p>Mei’s pregnancy had been a difficult one and Riza was sympathetic to her young friend’s bed rest mandate. She remembered being there with Maes. Despite the years, it didn't feel so long.</p>
<p>“We need some more boys, Al,” Ed remarks. He slides onto the porch swing and wraps an arm around Winry’s shoulders. “We’re outnumbered.”</p>
<p>“Thanks to you, Fullmetal,” Roy teases. “What will the world do with all those Elric daughters? Your family is like the second coming of the Armstrongs.”</p>
<p>“You’re one to talk. One more Mustang wasn’t enough - now there’s two,” Ed jabs.</p>
<p>“Lucky for you, they take more after their mother.” That makes Riza blush.</p>
<p>“They remind me of us, brother,” Al points out. </p>
<p>Riza smiles and tightens her grip on Roy. Maes and Roman are two halves of the same whole, not just in appearance but in devotion to one another. She sees the parallels clear as day, even if Roy grumbles that they’re milking it for posterity.</p>
<p>“When do you return to Xing, Alphonse?” Riza asks.</p>
<p>“Soon,” he says. “Mei’s parents have arranged a caravan to escort us. They’re on their way to Resembool now. Should be a week yet.”</p>
<p>The friends crow and tease Alphonse about his fancy royal escort, and he takes it in his usual dirt-off-the-shoulder easiness. Al had spent the better part of the last few years making amends with Mei’s family, who were understandably shocked and upset when Mei had shown up out of the blue one day with an infant and Al at her side. Now pregnant far from home again, but with the added bonus of difficult twins, her family's concern is more than justified.</p>
<p>“I’m glad we could get together before you leave,” Winry says. Allison has fallen asleep against her chest and she strokes her daughter’s chestnut brown hair.</p>
<p>Al smiles fondly, leaning against the porch beam. “Me, too.”</p>
<p>Riza nestles her head against her husband's shoulder. They haven't told anyone about their anniversary. It was one of those things that was only for the two of them to know, and they basked in the quiet intimacy that was spending an evening with their friends and their children, wrapped up in one another. It was quintessentially them.</p>
<p>As the evening winds down, their big chosen family filling the house, the atmosphere is reflective. It’s apparent in the way Ed and Winry tuck their four children into their king-sized bed. In the way that Al watches on as Mei guides Suyin’s hands over her stomach when the twins begin to move. In the way that Roy stands at the door of their guest room, watching Riza kneel with their boys to point out the constellations outside their window.</p>
<p>Later that night, when the children are asleep and their friends have retired to their rooms, Roy pulls Riza onto the porch and wraps his arms around her. They dance in the moonlight together, surrounded by the life they made.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>"Slices" of life may have been an exaggeration. Some of these slices are like, real dense.</p>
<p>It's been years since I wrote any fiction at all, let alone fanfiction. The corn teen life put me back in touch with past hobbies and I'm so glad it did! This was fun, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>I toyed with cutting down some of the spicy content, but in the end I left all of it in because why not?</p>
<p>I did my best to go about Riza's pregnancy struggles delicately, but as a woman who has not gone through that pain, I acknowledge I have more of an outsider-looking-in perspective. Because of that, and out of respect for those who have lived it, I tried to keep that to a minimum without downplaying its importance to the plot and the impact it has on Roy and Riza as a couple. I hope I did alright, but please let me know if you feel otherwise. After all, we're constantly learning!</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>"Real People" was inspired by so many established works of fanfiction and fan art, and not just in the FMA world. Particularly @b-griveros' beautiful comics and @heavenin--hell's Inuparents art. The title itself comes from Hozier's "Like Real People Do". Thank you, creators - you've no idea how many hours I've spent mentally escaping in your work.</p>
<p>Ummm I'm on Tumblr @sayarling890 but not gonna lie I mostly just lurk on my spooky/sunshine ships.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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